From time to time I listen to House of Assembly and Senate debates live on radio on the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation’s 100.7 FM.
Last Wednesday’s Senate debate related to a resolution to approve a guarantee by Government of the repayment of a $41 million loan from the National Insurance Scheme to the University of the West Indies (UWI).
Independent Senator Velma Newton, dean of the Faculty of Law at Cave Hill, made an eye-opening contribution to the debate by pointing out that for the first time in its history, the university faces a “qualified report” if Government does not reduce its indebtedness by at least half.
Equipped with important inside information, she put the situation in painful perspective, saying “it is the equivalent of the Standard & Poor’s grading which was just given to Barbados”.
She said Government’s total indebtedness to UWI was $103 million with a monthly wage bill of around $7 million, and that Government’s contribution had fallen into arrears by only “sending about one or two million a month towards that bill”.
Senator Newton charged that UWI’s financial crisis could have been avoided if delays were not caused three years ago when Government raised questions about the campus’ accounting. This resulted, she said, in a loss of time and growth in the monies owed.
Speaking with frank brutality, she said that while Government was “scrambling around to reduce the debt, the entire university system is at risk”. If the Government could not afford to honour its commitment, it could say so without claiming some fictitious accounting difficulties.
She went further, saying negative talk by ministers about campus finances had the further negative impact of impinging on its attempt to internationalize, thereby aborting much needed foreign exchange.
The senator’s stellar contribution left me, as a former Cave Hill staffer, with a lump in my throat and a heavy heart. I must ask: if the outstanding debt is $103 million and Government is guaranteeing just $41 million now, where will the remaining $62 million come from and when?
And if only one or two million to pay staff is now remitted monthly, the debt can only get bigger. I can understand how humiliating it must be for those charged with the responsibility of running the Cave Hill Campus to have to go cap in hand to other campuses seeking loans to keep it going.
Since 1963 Barbados has had a proud and outstanding record of university education. It has been one of the principal pillars supporting the transformation of this “speck of dust in the ocean” to a position of massive universal admiration and respect.
In these difficult times, we need to rack our collective brains to ensure that this critical, transformative institution is not brought to its knees.
In an earlier column I made the point that the days of free tertiary education needed revisiting. In a document submitted recently to the Minister of Education, a committee headed by Cave Hill principal Sir Hilary Beckles recommended that students pay five per cent of their economic costs.
With great respect, this is trifling and will not make any significant difference. I am from a generation before both secondary and tertiary education were state funded in Barbados. I remember my father in those difficult days paying $28.50 a term each for three boys at Lodge School, plus another two children at Foundation and paying for books as well.
If we fully appreciate the depth of the hole Barbados is in today, university students should be asked to pay a minimum of 20 per cent of their economic costs. There will be exceptions and the state can help. But the majority should either have their parents pay or get an education bank loan as happens in far better off countries
In closing, I heard the talk show host mentioned in last week’s column express disappointment at my surprise at the comment that “the Barbados Labour Party is constantly campaigning and in the electorate’s face”.
I do not know if this host has ever been involved in an election campaign or has worked in the engine room of a political party. The fact is, Barbados is only months away from the polls and all candidates serious about being elected are active on the campaign trail.
I know a member of Parliament who goes into his constituency from the day after elections up to the next polling day. In four consecutive elections since 1994 he has never lost. Winning a seat and keeping it means constantly campaigning and being in the electorate’s face.
On Tuesday morning I heard the host ask St Thomas representative Ms Cynthia Forde if she had started campaigning. Was she not told that campaigning is an ongoing process? Why did the political neophyte not complain there and then about being constantly in the electorate’s face?
• Peter Simmons, a social scientist, is a former diplomat.
